


travels

by mageswolf



Series: revival [2]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, M/M, gratuitous eyebrows and also drinking, past cloud strife/zack fair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 16:48:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6618502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mageswolf/pseuds/mageswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Maybe not, but you are the closest. Besides, we’re friends, ain’t we? Haven’t tried to kill each other recently, you let me have your booze. That’s what I call real fuckin’ camaraderie.” Reno drawled.<br/>-------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Reno has a proposition. Cloud isn't entirely sure why he's even here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	travels

**Author's Note:**

> Set a few months after Awake.

Strangely enough, it was Reno who suggested it.

Reno was around uncomfortably often, seeming to pop out of closets and from under tables, around the bar even when Rude was nowhere to be seen. It was disconcerting, to say the least. Especially when Cloud wasn’t all that sure he even liked they guy in the first place, let alone wanted him in his home on a regular basis. 

It was a slow night in the bar, and Reno was at the pool table in the back most likely cheating someone out of their money. Cloud honestly didn’t care what he did as long as it didn’t lose them customers. There was a scratchy record playing in the background, something Tifa had said about nostalgia, even though neither of them had been alive before music chips. 

He saw Reno laugh and clap a defeated looking man on the shoulder, before turning and sauntering up towards the bar. Cloud put the last glass from the sink onto the rack and turned around, because he didn’t have the willpower or energy to ignore Reno’s insistent tapping at the bar.

“What do you want now, Reno?” Cloud asked, leaning on the bar with one forearm. Reno slid onto one of the stools, and propped his chin in on hand, drumming his fingers on the counter with the other. 

Finally, after tapping a seemingly endless rhythm and rolling his neck around in what looked to be an attempt at either appearing threatening or flirtatious (you could never really tell with Reno), he spoke.

“The question” he said, emphasising his words by making a shooting motion at Cloud with one of his fingers “is what you want, Strife.”  
Cloud looked down at Reno’s extended finger with mild disinterest. 

“If you’re trying to invite me to some weird murder sex club again, I already told you no. Don’t make me hit you.” Cloud replied.

Reno looked deeply offended, and pouted dramatically. “That was one time! And I told you, almost nobody dies. How would they make any money if they killed their customers?”

Cloud raised an eyebrow, silently requesting that the point of the conversation come to light.

“What I meant, my depressed, sword swinging friend, is that I have an invitation for you.” Reno said, grinning in the slightly disturbing way he had.

“And why do you think I want an invitation to anything with you?”

“Think of it as a favour, for our generous payment of your delivery services.” Reno said. Cloud scowled. The Turks did pay him well, loathe thought he was to admit it. But then, he supposed he deserved some sort of loyalty pay. It wasn’t like he had ever worked anywhere but Shinra.

“And what exactly would this invitation that is actually unpaid labour entail, may I ask?”

“Well, I got some sites to check. Rude can’t make it, got some family shit back in Del Sol. Elena is pissed at me still for the paper clip incident” Cloud really didn’t want to know,   
“And Tseng won’t leave his fancy new office. And no fucking way am I going up there all alone, yo. Too fucking weird. And cold.” Reno finished, shivering dramatically. 

“Where are you going, that you need accompaniment so badly?” Cloud asked, interest piqued, despite his better judgement. 

“Well, that’s just it. I’ma need someone to translate the regional shit. Since I’m headed up past Nibelheim and all.”

Cloud paused in his polishing the bar.

“Nibelheim?”

“Yup. And even further. Gotta take a look at the old reactors an’ shit. Mosta the towns up there don’t speak standard much, am I right?” Reno smirked knowingly.

Cloud nodded slightly. North of Nibelheim, it was hard to find many people fluent in Midgar standard. It had taken Cloud years to shake his sing-song accent.

(The other cadets had laughed at him for it, he remembered. Made fun of him for being a weak little foreigner who couldn’t even speak standard properly. Zack had said he liked it. Said it made everything Cloud said sound musical.)

“So you want me to be your translator.” Cloud asked finally. 

Reno nodded, lips spread thin into his ever-present smirk. “Fluent speakers are hard to come by. I seem to remember you can speak them all up to about the west side of the Nülbeinen Mountains.”

His pronunciation was surprisingly decent. “I highly doubt I’m the only translator you have available.”

“Maybe not, but you are the closest. Besides, we’re friends, ain’t we? Haven’t tried to kill each other recently, you let me have your booze. That’s what I call real fuckin’ camaraderie.” Reno drawled. Cloud could tell when he was actually somewhat tipsy, because his accent showed through. 

(Thankfully not to its full extent. When he got particularly drunk or angry, he was practically unintelligible. Consonants slurred together, and vowels were skipped. Ending like “ing” and “ed” were gone. Something like “Pass the rum” became “P’s t’rom”. Just when Cloud had thought speaking to Reno couldn’t become any more difficult.)

“You pay me for deliveries and alcohol and I don’t throw you out on your ass. I don’t think that counts as deep and abiding friendship.”  
Reno hummed and narrowed his eyes and leaner forward over the counter. With what appeared to be a considerable amount of effort, he reached forward and poked Cloud in the chest. 

“Y’know, the way I see it, you sorta owe me a favour anyway. Seein’ as I brought you all that shit. Hauled it all the way from headquarters an’ everything. Rude coulda put his back out again.” Reno said, speech slurring as we sipped on the whiskey he had gestured for. 

Cloud probably should cut him off. However the last time Reno had passed out on his floor, he had woken up covered in Marlene’s hair bows, and Denzel had drawn a moustache on him. Tifa had sent a picture to Rude. 

Instead he just raised an eyebrow, before shooting back at Reno’s comment. “Yeah, well the way I see it all that stuff is rightfully mine anyway. I was under the impression that the spouse of the deceased was to receive all their possessions. And since that’s me, you probably should have gotten off your ass and brought it all to me a while ago. So no, I don’t think I owe you any favours.”

Reno looked slightly taken aback for a moment, before returning to his default expression of a snarky smirk.

“Well damn, Spike. See if I do you any favours any time soon.” Cloud frowned at the use of his nickname from his cadet days, before Reno threw a piece of paper down on the table. “Here’s t’ date and time I leave from headquarters. Y’know, just in case you have a change of heart.”

Reno chugged the rest of his Wutaian Sake before swinging around to saunter out the door. Cloud watched him go before, somewhat against his better judgement, he folded the paper in half and stuck it in his pocket. He doubted he would go. The prospect of all that time alone with Reno was not a pleasant one. Even if they would likely stop in that fishing village south west of the mountains. 

The paper sat in his pocket the rest of night, and on his dresser for the next few days. On the third day he picked up the paper, stared at it for a good ten minutes, before pulling his rucksack out of his closet. 

That fish monger had great salted cod, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone interested in continuing this for their adventures?


End file.
